Chinese riot police get into position as Uighur protesters gather during a demonstration in Urumqi...Chinese riot police get into position as Uighur protesters gather during a demonstration in Urumqi, Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region July 7, 2009. Uighur protesters clashed with Chinese riot police in the capital of China's Muslim region of Xinjiang on Tuesday, two days after ethnic violence broke out leaving 156 people dead and more than 800 injured. REUTERS/Nir Elias (CHINA CONFLICT)

Hundreds riot in China over vendor’s death

Hundreds of people rioted in southwest China after security forces reportedly beat a disabled street vendor to death, government authorities and state media said.

The crowd gathered in Guizhou province’s Anshun city yesterday afternoon after the hawker died, the local government said, in an incident that bore a close similarity with riots last month in China’s southern industrial heartland.

A police spokesman said the one-legged man had argued with the “chengguan”, the official Xinhua news agency said Wednesday, referring to a municipal security force charged with regulating street hawking and similar activities.

Comments posted by netizens said the “chengguan” — two men and one woman — beat the disabled vendor to death. The Xinhua report said an investigation was under way to find out how he died.